Subterfuge

Those of the Serpentclass possess the skill of Subterfuge, through which they are able to use archery, illusions, and a variety of stealthy abilities to their advantage.

Abilities in Subterfuge

Ability

Description

Rattle

Knowledge of the coded Serpent Lord tongue.

Syntax: RATTLE <text>

RATTLE TO <person> <text>

Works on/against: Adventurers, denizens, room, and self

Details:

With this ability, you may communicate with others who have it with no fear of being overheard by other mortals.

Hide

Conceal yourself from view.

Syntax: HIDE

EMERGE

Extra Information: Emerge cooldown: 1.00 seconds of balance.

Works on/against: Self

Cooldown: 4.00 seconds of balance

Details:

Conceal yourself from view and then type EMERGE to cease concealing.

Scales

Coat yourself in protective, serpentine scales.

Syntax: SCALES

SCALES SHED

Works on/against: Self

Cooldown: 3.00 seconds of balance

Resource: 250 mana

Details:

So snake-like are you that you may cover yourself with mildly protective scales at will.

Garrote

Choke the life out of a target with your whip.

Syntax: GARROTE <target>

Works on/against: Adventurers and denizens

Cooldown: Balance cost varies based on weapon speed

Details:

Using a wielded whip, you can try to slip behind a target and choke the life out of him or her. Armour is rendered entirely useless to your victim. Furthermore, while it is difficult to do normally, if your target is fairly helpless (paralysed, tied up, frozen, fallen on the ground, sleeping, unconscious, or some other similar afflictions) then you will always hit with this. The higher your subterfuge, the more damage this ability will do.

Evade

Misleading your pursuer.

Syntax: EVADE <direction>

Cooldown: 2.00 seconds of balance

Details:

No difficult feat for one with trained in the arts of subterfuge, you may silently evade past obstructions, at once losing anyone who may be following you.

Shadow

Shadowing a target in order to track them.

Syntax: SHADOW <target>

Works on/against: Adventurers

Cooldown: 4.00 seconds of balance

Details:

From on the ground or in the trees you are able to shadow an adventurer from an adjacent location. This will cause you to enter their location and begin following them.

Using a whip, you will be able to flay the waxy coating of the sileris berry from your opponent, enabling you to sink your fangs into his flesh once more; or to flay a rebounding aura or magical shield to attack with weapons once more. You can also use FLAY <denizen> SHIELD to flay the shield defence from denizens.

Waiting

Awaiting a target to be shadowed.

Syntax: AWAIT <target>

Works on/against: Adventurers

Cooldown: 4.00 seconds of balance

Details:

Once activated, this ability will allow you to stand still and wait for another adventurer unnoticed. When the adventurer enters the location, you will begin to follow.

Pacing

The ability to anticipate and keep pace with others.

Syntax: PACING [ON|OFF]

RELAX PACING

Extra Information: Relax cooldown: 3.00 seconds of balance.

Works on/against: Adventurers

Cooldown: 3.50 seconds of balance

Details:

At a constant endurance drain, you will be able to follow those while they sprint away.

Bask

Bathing in the hot sun.

Syntax: BASK

Works on/against: Self

Details:

In an outdoor room you may bask in the hot sun, replenishing your strength and curing your afflictions.

A desperate serpent may also bask in the presence of a lightwall.

Block

Obstructing departure with your body.

Syntax: BLOCK <direction>

UNBLOCK

Details:

This will allow you to block much movement in a particular direction.

Swinging

Swinging up into the treetops.

Syntax: SWING UP

SWING DOWN

Cooldown: 2.00 seconds of balance

Details:

When in a forest location, you will be able to swing up into the trees.

Secret

Give someone an item without their knowledge.

Syntax: SECRET <item> to <target>

Works on/against: Adventurers

Details:

This simply puts an item on an adventurer without him noticing.

Scan

Scanning the forest floor from the treetops.

Syntax: SCAN

Details:

While in the treetops, you can scan the ground for passerbys.

Bowmanship

Use of the valued projectile weapon.

Syntax: SHOOT <target> <direction>

Works on/against: Adventurers

Cooldown: 3.50 seconds of balance

Details:

Use one of the various bows to shoot an adventurer in a line-of-sight location from you.

Seize

Grabbing unwary victims from the forest floor.

Syntax: SEIZE <target>

Works on/against: Adventurers

Cooldown: 4.50 seconds of balance

Details:

While in the trees, you may seize an adventurer and bring him up to your level.

Shove

Sending a hapless victim crashing to the forest floor.

Syntax: SHOVE <target>

Works on/against: Adventurers

Cooldown: 4.00 seconds of balance

Details:

While in the trees, you may shove an adventurer to the ground, possibly breaking his legs.

Noose

Covert and deadly assassination from the trees.

Syntax: CRAFT NOOSE

NOOSE <target>

Extra Information: Noose cooldown: 4.00 seconds of balance.

Works on/against: Adventurers

Cooldown: 3.50 seconds of balance

Details:

While you are in the trees you can craft a noose from the vines hanging everywhere. Then, if there is a sole victim below you, you can NOOSE <adventurer>. This is a long process as you have to move with utter silence. If anyone else enters the location, your attempt will be ruined.

Aiming

Increase your accuracy in shooting.

Syntax: AIM <target> <direction>

Works on/against: Adventurers

Details:

Increase the accuracy of your shooting.

Listen

Detect action and conversations nearby.

Syntax: LISTEN <direction>

Works on/against: Room

Cooldown: 3.50 seconds of equilibrium

Details:

Use your auditory acuity to listen in on conversations in an adjacent room.

Dispel

Rid your environment of illusions.

Syntax: DISPEL ME

DISPEL <target>

Works on/against: Adventurers and self

Resource: 5 mana

Details:

Use this ability to dispel most illusions associated with yourself or another adventurer.

This will allow you to understand speech normally, even when you are deaf, and understand speech that has been disturbed by wind.

Eavesdrop

Listen even through closed doors.

Syntax: EAVESDROP <direction>

Works on/against: Room

Cooldown: 3.50 seconds of equilibrium

Details:

Your skills have improved to the point where you can now listen even through closed doors.

Slit

Cut the throat of a helpless victim.

Syntax: SLIT <target>

Works on/against: Adventurers

Cooldown: 3.50 seconds of balance

Details:

Provided you are wielding either a dagger or dirk, this ability will allow you to slit the throat of your enemy who is bound or not conscious (sleeping, meditating, unconscious), causing significant bleeding damage.

Wind

Further increase your accuracy through wind compensation.

Syntax: None

Details:

Once you have this ability, your accuracy with bowmanship will be increased.

Ghost

Give yourself a ghostly appearance.

Syntax: CONJURE GHOST

Works on/against: Self

Cooldown: 3.50 seconds of equilibrium

Resource: 50 mana

Details:

Give yourself a ghostly appearance.

Doublestab

Quickly administer two venoms to a target with your dirk.

Syntax: DOUBLESTAB/DSTAB <target> [venom1 venom2]

Works on/against: Adventurers

Cooldown: 2.80 seconds of balance

Details:

If you are wielding a dirk that has been envenomed with more than one venom, you may use this ability to quickly deliver two venoms simultaneously to your target.

Envenom

Dip your arrows in venom.

Syntax: ENVENOM ARROW <colour> <venom>

ENVENOM <weapon> with <venom>

WIPE <weapon>

Details:

After you have coloured a group of arrows, you may cover the tips with venom if you have the ability to secrete the particular type of venom. You can also envenom normal edged weapons with this ability.

Seek

Sense for dimensional wormholes.

Syntax: WORM SEEK

Works on/against: Room

Cooldown: 3.00 seconds of equilibrium

Details:

This will tell you if a wormhole exists in your location and where it leads if one does.

Create an illusion of your choosing in the room you are in. This ability is unique in that you may bite someone _immediately_ after using it, before you have recovered equilibrium. You may embed a single newline in your illusion by including the character sequence \n at the appropriate spot. You may optionally specify a target for your illusion by adding the name of your intended victim after the word 'conjure'. For limitations and restrictions, please refer to HELP ILLUSIONS.

Crossbows

A powerful projectile weapon.

Syntax: SHOOT <target> <direction>

Works on/against: Adventurers

Cooldown: 3.50 seconds of balance

Details:

The crossbow is more powerful, but less accurate, than the longbow.

Cloak

Hide your actions from others.

Syntax: CONJURE CLOAK

CONJURE CLOAK <target>

DISPEL ME

Cooldown: 3.50 seconds of equilibrium

Resource: 70 mana

Details:

This will conjure up a cloak that will disguise many actions from observers.

DISPEL ME will remove a subterfuge induced cloak from your person.

Dash

Sprint in a particular direction.

Syntax: DASH <direction> [distance] (Between 1 and 11 rooms)

Details:

Sprint quickly in a particular direction.

Lightwall

Create a palpable wall of light.

Syntax: CONJURE LIGHTWALL <direction>

SNUFF LIGHTWALLS

Works on/against: Adventurers and room

Cooldown: 4.00 seconds of equilibrium

Resource: 45 mana

Details:

This will conjure a wall of light, which, when passed through, will afflict the unfortunate individual with the darkshade affliction. It also drastically speeds up the progression of the affliction for anyone standing in its presence.

The famed darkbows of Hashan are both expensive and powerful. Only slightly less powerful than a crossbow, they are far more accurate.

Splice

Create a dimensional wormhole.

Syntax: WORM SPLICE <target>

Works on/against: Room

Cooldown: 3.00 seconds of balance

Details:

This command takes two Serpents with the ability to splice. Target the other Serpent and then execute this command. It will take quite awhile, but when finished, a wormhole will be formed between your two locations.

Pinshot

Focus your fire upon the feet of your victim.

Syntax: PINSHOT <target>

Works on/against: Adventurers

Cooldown: 3.00 seconds of balance

Details:

This powerful ability will focus your fire upon the feet of your victim, making it difficult for them to flee from you.

Only useable while hidden in the shadows, backstab is a delayed ability. After initiating it, you will spend a few seconds circling around to get directly behind your opponent, and then you will leap from the shadows to plant a dirk or dagger in his back.

Channel

Hurl an object through a dimensional wormhole.

Syntax: WORM CHANNEL <object>

Works on/against: Room

Cooldown: 4.00 seconds of equilibrium

Details:

Use this ability to throw an object through a dimensional wormhole.

Pickpocket

Deftly pilfer from unsuspecting targets.

Syntax: PICKPOCKET <target> [item]

Works on/against: Adventurers and denizens

Cooldown: 1.50 seconds of balance

Resource: 150 mana

Details:

The ultimate test of stealth and dexterity, allowing daring thieves to liberate gold or objects from the possession of an unsuspecting target.

You may also attempt to liberate a specific item from your target, but this is exceedingly difficult.

The first time you summon a snake, you may have to try many times before you're successful. Eventually though, the snakes of the wild won't be able to resist your serpentine charms, and one will come slithering to serve. Once you have your snake, you may summon it back at any time
should you lose it (simply SUMMON RATTLESNAKE INVENTORY|INV] again). Your snake may be ordered to perform the actions listed in HELP DENIZENS.

This is probably the most effective concealment ability there is. While phased, you will be hidden from all mortal adventurers, aside from other phased ones. You will, further, be unable to interact with items, denizens, or unphased adventurers. The caveat here is that you may try to attack an unphased adventurer, which will automatically unphase you. Thus, phase can be used as an effective aid to assassinations.